Session 6 - Burn Out the Barracks
Fennec, the last druid of his tribe, led the heroes to his people's village--minus rogue Wood elf Mindratis, who decided to avoid any more business with the New Chuch, and the tiefling sorcerer Vanderjesus, who had remained behind in Bridgton on business of her own. The heroes met the Wise Woman of the tribe, who explained that her people had lived on the land for generations upon generations, and that they traded peacefully with the innkeepers when they built the Wood Nymph, but that it was when the "Iron Men," the New Church worshippers, moved to the region and began hunting and clearcutting that the druids were forced to take action against the destruction of their forest. Fennec wanted the Iron Men dead, and while the Wise Woman wished the situation would be resolved peacefully, she admitted that the only thing that would stop the Iron Soldiers were their deaths. The party had differing opinions; the human druid Fairy Dragon, human cleric Edlee and half-air spirit monk Aubrey wanted to protect the druids, while half-orc fighter Phryne was more in favour of getting the money the mill's owner, Merriglen, had promised them. Phryne and Fairy Dragon wanted to engage in some level of trickery that would allow them to rid the settlement of the New Church worshippers and deliver Merriglen to the druids without too much loss of life. The heroes approached Jawn, the innkeeper, to see if any of the non-New Church worshippers in the settlement would help in ousting the New Church soldiers. Jawn was reticent at first, but revealed that there's plenty of friction between the civilians of the mill and the New Church worshippers. Jawn promises to speak to some of the other civilians, and pledges his help in the heroes plight. Fairy Dragon sought help from the druids to collect a drug to incapacitate the soldiers, and collected "torpor," a mushroom that induces a temporary sleep-like psychosis. Vanderjesus took Edlee into the woods for a romp, while Phryne killed a boar and covered herself in blood to look like she'd seen action. Aubrey scouted out the fortifications around the settlement, the guards and their rounds. The heroes' plan to convince Merriglen that they had dealt with the druids and create a celebration where the soldiers would ingest the torpor mixture didn't pan out when Merriglen led the heroes to the barracks only to order their arrest. The heroes faced off against Merriglen, a veteran soldier, and some green soldiers from the Port-of-Utopia New Church. Phryne and Aubrey quickly got into the fray, and Vanderjesus began lobbing spells before Fairy Dragon called down a massive thundering blast that blew through the barrack's roof and blasted the heroes and their enemies back. Vanderjesus' burning hands spell set the barracks on fire as the battle got heated. The heroes downed the four guards easily, but Merriglen proved tough and more guards showed up, drawn by the chaos in their barracks. As the barracks burned around them, Aubrey harnessed his new wind powers and blasted Merriglen through the burning barracks wall. Fairy Dragon transformed into a bear and attacked, while Phryne and Vanderjesus continued picking off guards and Edlee offered support. With a final mauling by Fairy Dragon in bear form, Merriglen was killed and a final guard surrendered. They helped to put out the burning building, though little was left of the soldiers' barracks. Fairy Dragon announced that the mill was liberated from the New Church, much to the chagrin of the few remaining New Church worshippers. ACTIVE QUESTS -Finish any business in Merriglen's Mill before continuing on -Investigate the encroaching dark forces from the East for the forest spirit (party thinks teal stone, these goblin factories and Gazek from Gobelton have something to do with it) -Escort Edlee to Elysium